It Is Written

Back to the Future

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Bradshaw

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Series Code: IIW

Program Code: IIW001353A


00:01 [Music]
00:07 It has stood the test of time.
00:12 God's Book, the Bible.
00:17 Still relevant in today's complex world.
00:22 It Is Written ... sharing hope
00:27 around the globe.
00:37 [TV Voice] "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a day
00:46 which will live in infamy, the United States of America
00:52 was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval
00:57 and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
01:04 A day that will live in infamy, President Franklin Roosevelt
01:08 called it. The surprise 1941 attack
01:11 on the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii left 2,400 Americans dead.
01:17 Now later, it was discovered that several opportunities
01:21 had been missed to anticipate and possibly
01:24 avoid the attack. But basically, we never saw
01:29 it coming. Now fast forward seven
01:31 years. Journalists said at the time
01:33 of the disastrous earthquake that hit Japan in early 2011
01:38 that one positive thing was that of all countries, Japan
01:42 was probably the best prepared to meet a disaster
01:44 like that one. Yet that devastating Tsunami
01:47 still claimed thousands of lives and caused massive
01:51 damage. Why was that?
01:54 Because nobody saw it coming.
01:57 It's impossible for us to know the future.
01:59 Now, there is no shortage of those who pretend
02:04 to know the future. Psychics, astrologers
02:07 and fortune tellers claim that they have the ability
02:10 to preview tomorrow's headlines. But the truth is, they wear
02:15 the same blindfolds as everybody else.
02:19 So, is there anyone who really does know the future?
02:22 The answer is: Yes there is. But only one person.
02:27 Today, we are going back to the future.
02:32 Time travel has always been popular in Hollywood movies.
02:35 The Back to the Future trilogy in the 1980's sold
02:40 almost a billion dollar's worth of tickets worldwide.
02:43 And who hasn't dreamed of being able to travel through
02:45 time? When I was a kid growing up,
02:47 Doctor Who was big on television.
02:50 Not that I liked it. The story of a British Time
02:52 Lord who traveled through time and something called
02:55 the "Tardis." Funny how some things don't
02:58 change. That show is still big on
03:00 television all these years later.
03:02 But not all time travel is fantasy.
03:05 Some of it is very real. Let's consider the night an
03:09 ancient king was transported more than 2500 years into
03:14 the future where he visited not only our time but the years
03:19 ahead of us. Previewing the future
03:22 is the special province of Bible Prophecy and what makes
03:26 this form of time travel so fascinating is that
03:29 the future it brings to view is 100% accurate and that
03:34 is because it's revealed by the one person in the universe
03:39 who knows exactly what the future holds.
03:43 We are not talking about the wild guesses of tabloid
03:46 psychics or new age channelers.
03:49 Bible prophecy has never failed.
03:52 And you know, that's a problem for people who claim that
03:56 there is no God or that the Bible cannot be trusted.
04:00 What do people do about prophecies that you just
04:04 cannot argue against? As long as we are all caught
04:07 up in this long war between good and evil, between
04:10 Christ and Satan, it is helpful to know not only what
04:14 has already happened, but what is yet to come
04:18 and it is especially encouraging to know how the war will end
04:22 and when. So today, we travel along
04:25 with an ancient amnesiac king, back to the future.
04:30 The story, as recorded in the second chapter
04:33 of the Bible's Book of Daniel begins with a King who had
04:36 a vivid dream but he could not remember what that dream was.
04:41 Let's listen to Daniel tell his story beginning
04:43 in Daniel 2:1. "Now in the second year
04:47 of Nebuchadnezzar's reign, Nebuchadnezzar had a dream
04:52 and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him."
04:56 Nebuchadnezzar was the King who ruled the great Babylonian
04:59 empire from the massive walled city of Babylon,
05:02 more than 600 years before the Birth of Christ.
05:05 The City covered 500 acres on both sides of the Euphrates
05:09 river. The river flowed under
05:11 the walls and through the city. Babylon was located
05:14 in the area of the world known as the Fertile Crescent.
05:17 It had an intricate system of canals that irrigated
05:20 lush croplands. Nebuchadnezzar built the
05:23 hanging gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders
05:26 of the World. He built them for his wife.
05:30 At the center of great Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar
05:32 built a 300 foot shrine to the pagan God Marduk.
05:37 He plated the walls and roof of the building with gold.
05:41 The altar was solid gold, as were the throne
05:43 and footstool. It was magnificent.
05:49 But this king is perhaps history's most famous
05:51 and significant amnesiac. A powerful king woke up one
05:56 morning and couldn't remember a dream he'd had.
05:58 You've been there - waking up in the morning, knowing
06:01 that you had a dream and the harder you try to recall
06:04 it the further away from you it gets.
06:07 King Nebuchadnezzar called together a phalanx of advisors
06:10 and asked them to tell him what he had dreamed.
06:13 The story is recorded in Daniel chapter 2, and here is how
06:16 they replied: "O king, live forever!
06:21 Tell your servants the dream, and we will give you
06:24 the interpretation." Daniel 2:4 NKJV They figured
06:28 they could analyze the dream and make up some sort
06:31 of interpretation once they knew what the dream was.
06:33 But interpretation wasn't yet the problem - the first
06:38 thing was to remember it! King Nebuchadnezzar saw
06:42 through what they were trying to do, and was not happy.
06:46 "Tell me the dream," he demanded, "and then I'll
06:49 know that you can give me its interpretation."
06:51 That is, you're supposed to be able see into the future!
06:54 Prove it to me now! Tell me what I dreamed.
06:57 But the wise men protested saying: "There is not a man
07:01 on earth who can tell the king's matter; therefore no king,
07:05 lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any
07:10 magician, astrologer, or Chaldean.
07:13 Daniel 2:10 NKJV "No man on earth who can do what you
07:17 ask" they said. And they were right
07:19 about that. But Nebuchadnezzar wasn't
07:22 about to back off. He knew his dream was important,
07:25 and he wanted to know what it meant.
07:27 He became so angry that he decreed that if the wise men
07:30 couldn't tell him his dream and its interpretation,
07:33 then the wise men in Babylon would be destroyed!
07:38 Now this was a problem for prophet Daniel and three
07:41 of his friends. Shortly after they arrived
07:44 captive in Babylon, they'd been identified as gifted
07:47 in wisdom, they were trained as servants for the king
07:50 and they were recognized as "wise men."
07:54 So the death sentence fell on them too.
07:57 Now Daniel then asked Nebuchadnezzar himself
08:00 for time so that he could pray. He had absolute confidence
08:05 that God would solve the problem.
08:07 In a night vision, God revealed the dream
08:11 and its interpretation to his servant Daniel, and Daniel
08:14 went in to see the king. He told him this wasn't
08:17 something an astrologer or magician could help the king
08:19 with, and he said to the king this, "But there is a God
08:25 in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known
08:29 to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter
08:32 days." Daniel 2:28 NKJV God
08:36 was very clear with Daniel that the king's dream actually
08:39 foretold events that would occur in the last days
08:43 of earth's history. The dream began in the days
08:45 of Nebuchadnezzar, and it moved forward generation after
08:49 generation after generation to the last days of earth's
08:53 history. Daniel went on to tell
08:55 the king what he had dreamed: "You, O king, were watching;
09:00 and behold, a great image! This great image, whose
09:04 splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form
09:08 was awesome. "This image's head was
09:11 of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly
09:15 and thighs of bronze, "its legs of iron, its feet
09:19 partly of iron and partly of clay.
09:23 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands,
09:25 which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay,
09:29 and broke them in pieces. "Then the iron, the clay,
09:33 the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed
09:36 together, and became like chaff from the summer
09:40 threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that
09:44 no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck
09:47 the image became a great mountain and filled the whole
09:52 earth." Daniel 2:31-35 NKJV You can
09:55 imagine the king saying, "Yes, that's it!
09:58 That's it! That's exactly what I saw!"
10:01 But then he'd have said, "But Daniel,
10:04 what does it mean?" Now notice how Daniel began
10:07 the interpretation: "You, O King, are a king
10:11 of kings . . . you are this head of gold."
10:16 Daniel 2:37, 38 NKJV History tells us the Babylonian Empire
10:21 was the dominant world power from 605 B.C. to 539 B.C.
10:28 History also tells us that King Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom
10:31 was full of gold. In the temple of Marduk
10:35 alone there was 18 tons of gold.
10:39 There was no better way for God to describe
10:41 the Babylonian Empire than by using the symbol of gold.
10:45 Nebuchadnezzar was happy with this interpretation.
10:48 He liked being the head of gold.
10:51 He wanted the head of gold to last forever, but that wasn't
10:55 to be, as Daniel explained in verse 39: "But after you
10:59 shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours;."
11:02 Daniel 2:39 NKJV At the time Nebuchadnezzar had this dream,
11:08 he was secure as the world leader, with no reason
11:11 to suspect that that would ever change.
11:13 But Babylon was to be overthrown by a kingdom represented
11:17 in Daniel 2:32 as "the chest and arms of silver."
11:22 Just a few pages ahead in your Bible, in Daniel 5:28,
11:25 the next world-ruling power is referred to
11:28 as the Medes and the Persians. Again, a fitting symbol:
11:31 the two arms joined at the chest to show two kingdoms -
11:35 the Medes and Persians, who ruled the world
11:39 from 539 B.C. to 331 B.C. Now the story of how
11:44 the Babylonians were overthrown is told in Daniel 5.
11:48 King Belshazzar, grandson of King Nebuchadnezzar, hosted
11:52 a feast for a thousand of his lords.
11:54 He called for the gold and silver vessels captured
11:56 from the temple in Jerusalem to be brought to him.
11:59 Now these were holy - they'd been used in the worship
12:03 of God - yet Belshazzar used them to drink alcohol
12:07 from in the worship of pagan gods.
12:10 In the midst of this drunken party, a mysterious,
12:14 bloodless hand appeared from out of the invisible sleeve
12:17 of darkness and wrote on the wall: MENE, MENE,
12:21 TEKEL, UPHARSIN. The interpretation of these
12:25 words spelled doom for the mighty Babylonian Empire.
12:29 Let's read from Daniel chapter 5.
12:32 "MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it;
12:38 TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found
12:41 wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given
12:47 to the Medes and Persians." Daniel 5:26-28 NKJV
12:53 That very night, the Medes and Persians diverted
12:57 the Euphrates River that ran under the massive walls
12:59 of Babylon. They marched their armies
13:02 straight down the dry riverbed and came up
13:05 inside the city. Now incredibly, a hundred
13:09 and fifty years before this, Isaiah not only foretold
13:13 in chapters 44 and 45 just how Babylon would be overthrown,
13:18 but he named the leader of the army who would do it
13:21 all-Cyrus, named him in the Bible.
13:24 Babylon was conquered in one night by the Medo-Persian
13:28 army, led by Cyrus, just as the Bible predicted -
13:31 just as Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream.
13:34 The Medes and Persians ruled the world for nearly
13:40 two centuries. But Nebuchadnezzar's dream
13:44 doesn't end there, and neither does history.
13:48 Time marches on, one kingdom replacing another kingdom,
13:52 just as God foretold in the dream of Nebuchadnezzar.
13:57 Now don't miss this. What we're seeing is that God
14:01 accurately predicted the rise and fall of two world-ruling
14:06 kingdoms. But what would happen next?
14:11 I'll tell you in just a moment.
14:16 In Matthew 4:4, the Word of God says, "It is written,
14:19 'man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that
14:23 proceeds from the mouth of God.
14:25 Ever Word is a one-minute Bible-based daily devotional
14:29 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed
14:31 especially for busy people like you.
14:33 Look for Every Word on selected networks or watch
14:37 it on-line everyday on our website, itiswritten.com.
14:41 Receive a daily spiritual boost. Watch Every Word.
14:44 You'll be glad you did. Here's a sample.
14:57 Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert, was on a railway
14:59 platform in Jersey City, New Jersey, when he slipped
15:02 between the platform and a moving train.
15:04 But someone behind him grabbed his coat collar
15:06 and lifted him to safety on the platform -
15:08 saving him from serious injury and possibly death.
15:11 The man who saved young Robert Lincoln was Edwin
15:14 Booth, the brother of John Wilkes Booth - who later
15:17 murdered President Lincoln. The brother of Lincoln's
15:20 assassin saved Lincoln's son. Coincidence? Well, you
15:24 decide, but when God is at work in our lives, THAT'S
15:27 "providence". Ecclesiastes 11:5 says,
15:31 "As you do not know what is the way of the wind,
15:34 or how the bones grow in the womb of her who
15:36 is with child, so you do not know the works of God
15:39 who makes everything." Even when you don't see it,
15:42 God is at work. When some see a coincidence,
15:44 you can know that God was there.
15:47 Let's live today by Every Word.
15:52 Planning for your financial future is a vital aspect
15:54 of Christian stewardship. For this reason, It Is Written
15:57 is pleased to offer free planned giving and estate
16:00 services. For information on how
16:02 we can help you, please call 1.800.992.2219.
16:07 Call today or visit our special website:
16:10 www.hislegacy.com.
16:20 Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written.
16:22 Today, we're unraveling one of the most important
16:25 prophecies in the entire Bible.
16:28 I've often called this the Master Key to Bible
16:30 Prophecy, because if you get this foundational prophecy,
16:34 you're in a position to be able to understand later prophecies
16:38 that build upon this one. The prophecy we're looking
16:42 at today is the dream God gave Nebuchadnezzar
16:44 in Daniel chapter 2. And I'll tell you why
16:47 this is the Master Key to Bible Prophecy.
16:50 When it comes to prophetic interpretation, there's
16:52 a principle known as "Repeat and Enlarge."
16:57 That is, God will lay something out in one part of the Bible,
17:00 then He'll repeat it later and enlarge upon it,
17:04 giving more information. In Daniel 2 there's an image
17:07 made of various metals - and each of those metals,
17:10 each component of the statue represents a kingdom.
17:14 In Daniel 7, the prophecy, the same prophecy is repeated
17:18 using different symbols - beasts -
17:21 and the prophecy is enlarged upon as more
17:24 information is given. This follows all the way
17:27 over to the book of Revelation as the principle
17:30 continues to be used by the Bible writers.
17:33 So let's review. In the book of Daniel,
17:35 the greatest monarch of his day had an impressive dream.
17:39 He dreamed of a huge statue made from different metals,
17:43 and discovered that the statue represented the rise and fall
17:46 of kingdoms, including his own.
17:49 It had a head of gold, representing Nebuchadnezzar's
17:53 kingdom of Babylon, and its chest & arms
17:56 were made of silver, representing the Medo-Persian
17:59 kingdom. And young Daniel, almost
18:02 certainly not yet 20 years old, came to the king
18:05 to interpret the dream. To tell him what it was,
18:07 and what it meant. Now here's what happened
18:11 next. The next kingdom is described
18:13 in Daniel 2:32 as the belly and thighs of bronze.
18:19 More than two hundred years before it appeared on the world
18:21 stage, Daniel actually names Greece - in Daniel 8:21
18:26 - as this third kingdom, which overthrew the Medes
18:28 and the Persians. Again, the symbol
18:31 is appropriate: the Greek army was led by Alexander
18:34 the Great, a young man who marched his men 11,000
18:37 miles, conquering almost all of the then-known world
18:40 before he died from malaria at the age of 33.
18:43 What did Alexander's men wear into battle?
18:46 Bronze breastplates, bronze helmets, bronze shields,
18:50 bronze swords. Once again, God chose
18:53 a fitting metaphor to describe the kingdom that would rule
18:55 the world from 331 B.C. to 168 B.C.
18:59 But history doesn't end with this third kingdom.
19:05 Greece didn't rule the world forever.
19:08 There was a fourth metal after the gold of Babylon,
19:11 the silver of the Medes and Persians, the bronze
19:14 of Greece. The next kingdom is represented
19:17 by iron: "And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron."
19:23 Daniel 2:40 NKJV The last kingdom to rule the entire
19:28 known world is described as iron.
19:31 In 168 B.C. the iron monarchy of Rome
19:35 overthrew the Greeks. Just as legs form the longest
19:39 part of the body, Rome had the longest reign
19:41 of any of the world powers. Little by little, Rome rose
19:46 to power, fighting many wars and enslaving many people.
19:49 By the time Jesus was born, most of the then-known world
19:53 was under Roman rule. You will remember that
19:55 Joseph and Mary were on their way to pay taxes
19:58 to the Roman ruler, Caesar Augustus,
20:00 when Jesus was born. For more than 500 years,
20:04 Rome appeared to be invincible -her flag waving from
20:06 the British Isles to the Arabian Gulf, from the North Sea
20:10 to the Sahara Desert, from the Atlantic
20:12 to the Euphrates and beyond. But were the Romans the last
20:17 ruling empire of the world? What did the Bible predict?
20:21 Here is what Daniel wrote: "Whereas you saw the feet
20:25 and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron,
20:28 the kingdom shall be divided." Daniel 2:41 NKJV How did
20:34 the Roman Empire break up? The empires before it were
20:38 overcome by other world powers - but not Rome.
20:41 If this prophecy is right, it must predict what actually
20:46 happened in history -that the legs of iron would
20:49 not be succeeded by a fifth world-ruling power.
20:53 History confirms that this seemingly unconquerable
20:56 Roman Empire crumbled in two ways - from within
21:01 and from without. Wealth poured into Rome
21:05 through taxes collected from all over the world.
21:08 The simple Roman life was replaced with luxury
21:10 and ease. The political world brewed
21:14 with corruption, crime infiltrated the streets,
21:16 the work ethic was lost and immorality was rampant.
21:20 And as the mighty Roman Empire weakened from within,
21:23 Rome was attacked from without and divided into ten major
21:28 tribes. Ten is no coincidence.
21:31 The God of the Bible looked down through the ages
21:34 of history and foresaw this division of ten.
21:36 Therefore, this time period of history is symbolized
21:40 by the ten toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image.
21:43 These ten tribes were the Alamanni who settled
21:46 in what has become Germany, the Franks who settled
21:49 in France, the Anglo-Saxons in England, the Visigoths
21:53 in Spain, the Suevi in Portugal, the Lombards
21:57 in Italy, and the Burgundians in Switzerland.
22:01 Originally the Vandals, Ostrogoths, and Heruli took
22:04 over parts of the Roman Empire, but they
22:07 were eventually destroyed. Daniel 2:42, 43 predicted
22:11 history from the time of the downfall of the Roman
22:13 Empire to the end of time. No matter how many battles
22:17 are fought around the world, no matter how many Hitlers
22:20 try to conquer the world, no matter how many Napoleons,
22:23 no matter how many Charlemagnes, no matter how many times
22:27 men try to unite the world as one kingdom,
22:31 they will not succeed. In vain world leaders seek
22:35 to conquer the world. The Bible says that just
22:38 as iron and clay will not mix together, so the world will
22:41 not unite again under one ruler again.
22:45 So where are we living today? In the very toenails
22:50 of history! Every part of this prophecy
22:52 has come to pass except for one.
22:56 "You watched while a stone was cut out without hands,
23:00 which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay,
23:03 and broke them in pieces. "And in the days of these
23:07 kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall
23:11 never be destroyed; ...it shall break in pieces
23:14 and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
23:21 Daniel 2:34, 44 NKJV History has followed this prophecy
23:27 like a blueprint and will continue to do so.
23:30 The political workings of this planet aren't random.
23:34 God has been guiding and controlling all along,
23:38 and only one kingdom remains to rule the world -
23:42 God's kingdom. That rock, cut out without
23:45 hands, that is the one kingdom, which will rule
23:49 forever. John, in Revelation speaks
23:52 about this coming kingdom, he says this: "And there
23:57 were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdoms of this
24:00 world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ,
24:04 and He shall reign forever and ever."
24:09 Revelation 11:15 That's the only kingdom
24:12 left to be established. Soon Jesus Christ,
24:16 the Messiah, born in a stable in Bethlehem 2000 years ago,
24:21 is going to visit us again. The heavens will depart
24:24 as a scroll, and Christ and the angels of heaven
24:28 will descend to the earth and gather the waiting saints
24:31 of God. And as the Bible says,
24:34 "So shall we ever be with the Lord."
24:39 So we've seen two things today: one, the Bible
24:42 can be trusted. This prophecy is startlingly
24:45 accurate, just like so many other prophecies
24:48 in the Word of God. You can have confidence
24:51 in God's Word. And if the prophecy
24:53 is to be trusted - and we've seen that it is -
24:55 then we can know that Jesus is coming back to this world...
24:58 soon.
25:01 Let me ask you, friend. Are you ready?
25:03 Ready for that great day? Do you know Jesus Christ?
25:07 Have you made that simple decision to trust Him,
25:10 to have faith in Him, to accept Jesus as your Saviour?
25:16 If not, you can choose right now and allow Jesus
25:21 to be the centre of your life. Let's do that right now.
25:25 Let's pray. Our Father in heaven,
25:28 what a blessing to know that your Word is sure.
25:31 How thankful men and women around the world can be
25:35 that there is something that can be trusted and someone who
25:38 can be trusted, just as you have traced history
25:42 with unerring accuracy. Lord, we know Jesus will
25:47 soon return and set up that kingdom that will never
25:49 pass away. We want to be part of it.
25:53 So we choose now to choose Jesus.
25:57 We invite you into our lives. I ask you to live in us both
26:02 to will and to do for your good pleasure and let us be
26:05 prepared through Jesus for that great day
26:08 when Jesus returns. This we pray thanking you
26:11 in Jesus' name, amen.
26:38 I hope you'll get the book I'm offering you this week,
26:39 it's called Revelation Today.
26:41 It adds a lot of details to the end-time scenario
26:44 presented in the Book of Revelation.
26:45 This little book is going to help you understand
26:48 what the Book of Revelation is really all about.
26:50 It untangles the end-time prophetic scenario
26:52 to let you see how the battle between good and evil ultimately
26:56 plays out. Just call or write
26:58 and I will send you Revelation Today.
27:00 There is no cost, no obligation.
27:02 It is absolutely free. All you need to do is call
27:04 1.800.253.3000 and ask for Revelation Today.
27:06 You can call 24-hours a day. If the line is busy, please
27:10 just keep on trying. You can also request your
27:12 free copy of Revelation Today by writing to
27:14 It Is Written, Box O, Thousand Oaks, California 91359.
27:19 We'll mail you a copy to your address
27:22 in North America. Please note this free book
27:24 is limited to the supply on hand.
27:27 To get it right away, you can download a free
27:29 electronic version of the book Revelation Today from
27:31 our website, itiswritten.com.
27:34 It Is Written is a faith-based ministry made possible
27:37 by viewers like you. Your tax-deductible gift
27:40 can be sent to the address on your screen or you can
27:42 support us on-line at itiswritten.com.
27:49 Thanks for joining me today. I look forward to seeing
27:51 you next time. Until then remember -
27:54 It Is Written: man shall not live by bread alone,
27:58 but by every word that proceeds from the mouth
28:01


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